So last year when I cleared the plot i dumped everything at the end to rot down / die off etc.. So the question is what to do with it now, can I reuse or is there to big a danger of reintroducing the weeds.

Perhaps a silly question but hey

How do you choose what flowers / shrubs / trees to grow?  
I lean more towards bee & butterfly friendly. But then I also go with colour & shape. I’ve just learned that there’s a plant called angels fishing rod   . I now MUST have one for my garden. That’s just the coolest name. So like with a lot of the veg I try for the first time, I’m drawn by the name as well  .
I don’t do anything sensible like choose a plant for its size or suitable for the Mull climate or the location I want to grow it. 
Am I the only one that does this ?

Last year I had Sungold and a couple of Cuor Di Bue in one of my greenhouses. This year due to lack of access to compost I used the mulch layer from my tomato beds to start off other seedlings.

Stupidly I also did my new tomato seeds and ended up with 8-9 seedlings in a pot of 3. I left them grow on. 

This particular plant has a strong stem like CDB and potato like leaves, it has palm sized fruit but, lots of them on long hanging stems like Sungold. Green ribs and red fruit like CDB yet round fruit like Sungold. No idea what it tastes like yet will find out in a day or two

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I know that some of you mock me for talking to plants but, listen to this, it may make sense to you.

These posts I read about plants bolting, its perfectly natural. What you call "bolting" is a plants' method of self preservation. All a seed wants to do is to grow and reproduce - to create seeds that will also be able to grow and reproduce. Its the natural lifecycle of all living things. Give a living thing the right conditions - water, light, food, space, shelter and it will flourish - whether its a plant or an animal.

As gardeners growing annual crops for food you have  a different agenda. You either want to stop the plant from seeding by nipping off the seedheads (think peas, beans, tomatoes here) - this make the plant try again to make seeds - or you want to stop it from seeding by harvesting it before its time (think biennial plants that set seed in their 2nd year). 

If you don't give your plants the conditions they need (like not enough water, room to grow, protection from its enemies) the plant will struggle and realise that the only way it can reproduce itself is to "go for it" whether the time is right or not - or to die.

As a gardener, you may be miffed when your onions/lettuce etc bolt, but ask yourself Why? Only you will know exactly what you've done or not done to cause this - planted too early or too late maybe. Or too closely,  too hot, too dry.

Next year, try it differently but not with the seeds from plants that have bolted - as they may have developed a weakness for "premature seeding" that you don't want in the next generation. Above all, don't worry about it, use it to your advantage. Set aside some of your best plants and let them produce seeds at the right time. Think of all the money you'll save.

I have grown onions from seed this year and some of them have shot others from sets are ok I thought that onions from seed were less likely to shoot so what could have caused this

Anyone got any buddleia they’d be will to swap. Cuttings or seeds. I’m sure I can find cuttings or seeds of something you’d like in exchange.

I’ve got the normal purple buddleia. I’d really like any of the other colours. White, pink, red, yellow orange.
Thank you

As the leaves of some of my onions have bent over I have started to lift them, but can anyone tell me why some onions have grown to a decent size and yet others growing  next to them are small all the same variety and planted at the same time.
The small ones will be used up just the same but just wondering what causes this

A very flighty long-tailed blue butterfly. How lovely! 

   

Also know as the Pea Blue Butterfly and a bit of a pest 

What do you do with old seeds? OK, you may do a bit of viability testing but seriously, you're never going to sow 1000 lettuces - why do they put so many in a packet?
I'll tell you what I do - not that you'll be surprised.
I empty the old seeds into a jar/pot and give them a stir. One pot for seeds of edible plants, the other for flowers. Then, I find a bare patch of soil and scatter it with seeds, sit back and wait to see whether any germinate.
Since all the edible seeds will be together, I know that whatever germinates will be edible - just as all the flower seeds probably are not. 
I've been topping up the Edible seed pot today and it contains:-
Onions and leeks
Carrots
Fennel
Brassicas of all sorts
Radish
Celery
Cress
Coriander
Lettuce
Rocket.

Whatever grows is a bonus. All we are saying, is give seeds a chance. 

Found a few green nuts on the ground today - the squirrels take most of them.
Worth looking out for on your travels and earmarking for a later visit when they'll be ripe.